Bake the world's simplest hot cross bun recipe with Sarah Rainey

We love lifehacks here at GQ, which is why we are so taken with Sarah Rainey’s new book Three Ingredient Baking. Every recipe inside is based on, yup, only three ingredients, but you wouldn’t know it from the results.

Ahead of Easter on 1st April, Sarah joined us live on Facebook at London's Cookery School on Little Portland Street to demo her three-ingredient recipe for a chocolate hot cross bun pudding (below), which she has created exclusively for GQ.

And, for your reference, here's the recipe in full...

Chocolate hot cross bun pudding

This comforting pudding is a twist on the traditional teatime snack – and a handy way of using up leftover hot cross buns. There are so many tasty treats on offer at Easter, but hot cross buns have to be my favourite – sweet, stodgy dough studded with juicy spiced fruits, sultanas and citrus peel… I could eat them for every meal.
If you do happen to have any left, or just fancy trying something different, this seasonal take on bread and butter pudding won’t leave you disappointed. The chocolate milk makes a deliciously creamy custard and it’ll make your kitchen smell incredible as it bakes.

Serves 8

Ingredients

8 hot cross buns – these can be fresh from the packet or already cut/toasted/buttered. Even slightly stale buns will work for this recipe

Preheat the oven to 180C / Fan 160C. Grease the lasagne/crumble dish with a little butter and set to one side.
Slice the hot cross buns lengthways and arrange them in a neat pattern in the dish, alternate sides up, overlapping as you go. If you want to fill in all the gaps, you can cut the buns to fit – but I like to keep my tops and bottoms whole.

Pour the milk into a saucepan over a medium heat and whisk until frothy. Crack the eggs into a separate bowl and whisk lightly with a fork.

Add the eggs to the milk and whisk. The aim is to make a very loose custard, so you want the mixture to thicken up a little. Heat it for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly, until it’s nice and foamy on top.

Pour the custard over the hot cross buns, taking care not to soak them completely – you want some bits to stick out and crisp up in the oven.

Bake for 35 minutes until the custard is bubbling and the buns are golden on top. Eat hot, with custard, cream or yet more chocolate milk on the side.

It should keep for a few days in the fridge, and you can reheat it in the microwave or in the oven (20 minutes at 150C should do) – either whole or in portions.